Violence?: "it was just once,… he didn't mean it"

Violence is expressed and it’s in every space of our everyday life, hence fighting it is important to avoid being subjected and controlled by other people.  

Violence is expressed and it’s in every space of our everyday life, hence fighting it is important to avoid being subjected and controlled by other people, amid a phenomenon that appears through intentional actions or intentional omissions and has the peculiarity of showing on interpersonal relationships.

When we hear the word violence, we associate it to physical abuse and violence is disguised in many spaces which, although sometimes unnoticed because they become customary, they are almost always revealed in actions that give hints of what will happen.

Since couples begin arguing yelling at each other, being jealous, frightening, controlling time, dressing, and behavior; undivided attention, banning the couple to keep the job, objects throwing, (regardless if the person is the target), unstop arguing and invasion of our personal space, we are witnessing examples of violence that should not necessarily have as indicator body damage.

In this regard it’s worth wonder how many types of violence can be?

There are dissimilar types of violence and within the most important groups can be found those related with psychological, economic, sexual, physical, of gender, work, within-the-family violence, among others.

Violence always implies an up and a down where the one up exacts power on the one down, and generally, they adopt complementary roles: father /mother-son/daughter, man-woman, teacher-student, employer -employee.

The couple relationships should be based on mutual respect, in tolerating, understanding, and trust in each other.

In the case that one of the previous factors are not completed, it would be present the gender violence in the couple.

Statistics demonstrate that gender violence affects women mainly, since in the 75% of couples the man mistreats the woman, 23% of couples show crossed violence and only the 2% of men are mistreated by their fiancée.

Evidently women take the blunt of the blow, since by identifying themselves with femininity they are seen by society as the weak sex.

Cuban society is still a patriarchal society, where gender roles are naturalized and where the masculine hegemonic role prevails.

The gender differences do not necessarily imply differences, yet inequalities occur when society assigns them a value.

Gender violence in the couple, means to take certain sexist attitudes by one of the members, a cause that strengthens the asymmetry between its members in disadvantage of their physical integrity.

Violence is expressed and it’s in every space of our everyday life, hence fighting it is important to avoid being subjected and controlled by other people, amid a phenomenon that appears through intentional actions or intentional omissions and has the peculiarity of showing on interpersonal relationships. It is crucial to know it and identify it to know that maybe you’re being subjected to it.

Don’t be a victim of violence and fight for gender equality, amid a society that takes long strides towards justice, where acts of discrimination or abuse to any human being are vanished.

Where to go if you are a victim of violence:

- Orientation Center to women and family of the Cuban Women Federation (FMC).

- The doctor's office.

- Psychology and psychiatry services at health centers.

- National Revolutionary Police.

- Official of prevention of Minors of the Ministry of Interior.